Disclosed is a disk drive that is operable with a host computer that includes a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) having a system on a chip (SOC). The disk drive comprises: a hard disk drive assembly (HDA); and a non-volatile semiconductor memory (NVSM). The NVSM is located within a preamplifier of the HDA and is couplable to the SOC of the host computer. The NVSM is configured to store configuration data for disk drive operation. The configuration data is configured to be retrieved by the SOC for controlling disk drive operations.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A hard disk drive assembly (HDA) that is operable with a host computer that comprises a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) including a system on a chip (SOC), the HDA comprising: a plurality of disks configured to store data; a plurality of heads configured to read and write data stored on the plurality of disks; a preamplifier configured to couple to the plurality of heads and the SOC of the host computer; and a non-volatile semiconductor memory (NVSM) located within the preamplifier, the NVSM configured to store configuration data for read and write operations of the HDA, wherein the configuration data is to be retrieved by the SOC for controlling the read and write operations of the HDA.
2. The (HDA) of claim 1 , wherein the NVSM comprises flash memory.
3. The (HDA) of claim 1 , wherein the SOC is configured to retrieve the configuration data from the NVSM and to control the read and write operations of the HDA based upon the configuration data.
4. The (HDA) of claim 1 , wherein the SOC comprises a processor and the NVSM stores a disk drive start program such that the processor under the control of the disk drive start program controls the read and write operations of the HDA.
5. The (HDA) of claim 4 , wherein the start program comprises firmware.
6. The (HDA) of claim 4 , wherein the SOC further comprises a read/write channel and a servo controller.
7. The (HDA) of claim 1 , wherein the configuration data comprises data indicating at least one of a type of family or a serial number.
8. The (HDA) of claim 1 , wherein the configuration data comprises data indicating at least one of a type of head or a type of disk.
9. The (HDA) of claim 1 , wherein the configuration data comprises at least one of: servo information, microjog information, track information, or calibration information.
10. A method of manufacturing a hard disk drive assembly (HDA), wherein the HDA is operable with a host computer that comprises a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) including a system on a chip (SOC), the method comprising: manufacturing a hard disk drive assembly (HDA) comprising a plurality of disks configured to store data, a plurality of heads configured to read and write data stored on the plurality of disks, a preamplifier configured to couple to the plurality of heads and the SOC of the host computer, and a non-volatile semiconductor memory (NVSM) located within the preamplifier; and coupling the NVSM with the preamplifier of the HDA, wherein the NVSM is configured to store configuration data for read and write operations of the HDA, and wherein the configuration data is to be retrieved by the SOC on the host computer such that during the read and write operations of the HDA, the SOC uses the configuration data to control the read and write operations of the HDA.
11. The method of claim 10 further comprising coupling the HDA to the SOC of the host computer wherein, upon start-up, the SOC is configured to retrieve the configuration data from the NVSM and to control disk drive operations based upon the configuration data.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the NVSM comprises flash memory.
13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the SOC comprises a processor and the NVSM stores a disk drive start program such that the processor under the control of the disk drive start program controls the read and write operations of the HDA.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the disk drive start program comprises firmware.
15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the SOC further comprises a read/write channel and a servo controller.
16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the configuration data comprises data indicating at least one of a type of disk drive family or a disk drive serial number.
17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the configuration data comprises data indicating at least one of a type of head or a type of disk.
18. The method of claim 10 , wherein the configuration data comprises at least one of: servo information, microjog information, track information, or calibration information.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
May 7, 2012
June 17, 2014
Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.